Skip to main content

Very under the influence

When a doctor crashed his car in the UK recently police were quickly at the scene of the incident and breathalysed the driver. He was found to have a blood alcohol count three times that of the permitted level. He explained that immediately after the crash he crawled from his wrecked BMW, opened a bottle of vodka he had with him and drank from this in a bid to steady his nerves. However this explanation was not believed in court as the man had been drinking the night before and was thought to still have
December 18, 2017 Read time: 2 mins

When a doctor crashed his car in the UK recently police were quickly at the scene of the incident and breathalysed the driver. He was found to have a blood alcohol count three times that of the permitted level. He explained that immediately after the crash he crawled from his wrecked BMW, opened a bottle of vodka he had with him and drank from this in a bid to steady his nerves. However this explanation was not believed in court as the man had been drinking the night before and was thought to still have alcohol in his system. He was banned from driving for 25 months and also fined heavily. Meanwhile in the US state of Florida, a drunk-driver crashed his car into a police vehicle at an intersection. The police vehicle was then shoved forward into another, resulting in damage to all three cars. Unusually, one of the police vehicles damaged in the incident was specifically intended to heighten the dangers of drink-driving. Both police vehicles were displaying flashing lights at the time, so how he managed not to see them is unclear. The man was found to be heavily intoxicated and charged accordingly and the incident occurred during the ‘Pirate Fest’ celebrations taking place that weekend. It is not clear which pirate character he was hoping to emulate. There were no injuries in the incident and the drunk-driver was taken to the nearest police station in one of the two slightly bent police vehicles.

Related Content

  • One Giant Leap for mankind…
    October 8, 2019
    This past month of July America and much of the world celebrated the 50th anniversary of man setting foot on the moon. There were speeches, replays of the Saturn V launch and lunar landing videos, interviews with astronauts, and much more as we relived the excitement, danger, and suspense of sending human beings 384,000km into space to land on an uninhabited moon and return. Most Americans over the age of five in 1969 can tell you where they were when the Eagle landed on July 20, 1969, and the world watch
  • The drive for US road funding: will corporate America get a seat?
    September 13, 2017
    Trumponomics aims to use public money for pump-priming an even greater amount of cash from the private sector to improve America’s crumbling roads. But is political will matching corporate America’s enthusiasm for more private investment, asks David Arminas If there were ever a test case for comparing public-private partnerships and design-build contracts, the recently completed Ohio River Bridges Project is it (see previous article).
  • India’s road to safety
    September 5, 2012
    India's growth rate is the envy of the world, and its infrastructure is rapidly improving, but its road safety record is the world's worst. Patrick Smith reports on a conference aimed at finding answers to the problems Ambling through the gardens and marble magnificence that is the Taj Mahal or gazing down on the city of Jaipur from the hilltop Jaigarh Fort is far removed from the world outside.
  • Road safety’s slow gain in Europe
    June 27, 2018
    Europe is seeing an improvement in road safety, but at a slower rate than hoped for. Official data shows that 25,250 people were killed in road crashes in the EU during 2017, a 2% drop from the figure recorded for 2016. Furthermore, road deaths have dropped just 3% in the last four years in the EU, with casualty reduction targets not being met. There are 32 countries listed in the PIN programme intended to cut road deaths and 22 of these nations did record improvements in road safety. Estonia managed to